Captain Save Your Kid (please rescue me and make me happy)

They are focused solely on their cell phones and video games, that must be why kids are the way they are today.

I guess the power of cell phones and video to influence kids is much more powerful than the power of parenting.

Once I had a run in with a mom of one of the kids I coached. Her daughter was unhappy and I told her that her daughter’s happiness was not my responsibility. She was disgusted with that response and told me that it was my job to make her daughter happy while she was under my care.

Warning- Parenting Failure

Happiness is a choice. There is only one person responsible to make a person happy, the individual.

Parents quit trying to make your kids happy, all it does is teach them you will cater to their every whim. Instead show your kids how to be happy. Show them you can be positive even a really bad situation.

I’ve seen it many times, a kid faces a problem, (personal or tangible) and they call mom or dad. This is normal. Then mom or dad swoops in to fix the problem.

Warning- Parenting Failure

Stop being Captain Save Your Kid. Instead of teaching your kid problem solving skills and how to work through tough problems, you are teaching them to rely on the people around them fix their issues. This doesn’t prepare your kids for as Prince said, “To get through this thing called life.”

Instead listen, determine if this is one of the big problems that is beyond their scope and if it is something that is manageable help them develop strategies to deal with their internal strife and address the issue.

Parenting sucks and it does not come with instructions, sometimes I wish it did. Kids learn more from watching how we behave then we may like to admit.

It makes me wonder- what kind of human being do I reflect to my daughter and the rest of the world.